Carlisle United defender Sam Lavelle has issued a message to the fans regarding his celebration for his goal against Lincoln City on Monday which didn’t exactly go down too well with some of the fanbase.
After scoring to get Carlisle back in the game against the in-form Lincoln, Lavelle put his hand to his head to celebrate which he says is an ode to how he has dealt with some of the recent criticism that he has got.
It’s been a rather tough season for the defender as well as the rest of the Carlisle team and they currently sit at the foot of the table and look destined to be playing in League Two next season. If not able to pick up three points against Northampton Town on Saturday, then they will be relegated, just a season after getting promoted to the third tier.
With statistically the worst defence in the league this season, there has been plenty of criticism of both Paul Simpson’s tactics as well as the central-defenders. Lavelle, who has been the captain for the majority of the season has felt the brunt of that and that no doubt impacted his celebration on Monday.
Having signed from Charlton Athletic in the summer, things haven’t exactly gone how they would’ve hoped for the 27-year-old, however he is far from a finished product just yet and will be looking to bounce back in League Two next season.
Speaking on his controversial celebration to club media, Lavelle would say:
“I think there’s been a bit of a reaction to my celebration. It’s been blown out of context massively and has nothing to do with biting back at the fans or anything like that.
“It’s just a bit of passion at the stage of the game really to say we’re back in this. I like to play on the front foot with a bit of aggression and when we score a goal and get back in the game it’s that sort of ‘come on’ sort of thing.
“The head thing is how I’ve sort of dealt with the criticism the last few months. For some reason I’ve been a scapegoat for the last few months and some of the lads have mentioned tweets about me.”
“I can’t hide away from the criticism you get sometimes, I think a bit of it was that, the passion came out of the last few months from what I’ve dealt with.”
Writer’s View
As Lavelle has stated he does very much seem to be the scapegoat of the poor performances this season. He’ll probably admit that performances have not been good enough but nonetheless, that is something that applies to the whole team.
The criticism could well motivate the defender, who may come back next season stronger. He’s shown sparks of quality but not a consistent enough basis so far.
The message should at least give some of the fanbase an explanation, though they’ll be wanting to forget about the season at this point and think about next year already. Whether Lavelle stays at the club or not is yet to be seen, but he is contracted until the summer of 2025.
Senior Editor
